


different, yet the same

by tatapioca



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:49:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2600864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatapioca/pseuds/tatapioca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The lonely mermaid Nozomi has a wish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	different, yet the same

Being different meant being lonely. That was a truth Nozomi had learned early in her life.

So often she had swum to the surface of the sea just to see all those beings that had been blessed with having legs instead of a fish tail like Nozomi's. No, she did not hate who she was, but she hated the loneliness that was connected to it. It was natural for centuries already that not many mermaids existed. They always had been a small population in contrast to the many, many humans that lived, and so Nozomi couldn't help but feeling a pain in her chest when she watched groups of human girls having fun at the beach, laughing together and being happy.

Nozomi had none of that.

Her parents had never been part of a swarm and had preferred solitude over company, so she never had the chance to make any friends, only having her parents teaching her how to live and then leaving her alone, wanting her to be independent and strong enough that she didn't have to rely on anyone. Nozomi did not despise them for it, knowing they only had her well-being in mind and she knew her parents loved her, but she was different from them. Being alone wasn't a way for her to live.

Sure, she survived. But what kind of life was it when she couldn't share her feelings with anyone, when she couldn't have any relationships with another being? This wasn't happiness. Not for her.

All Nozomi ever wished for was having a friend, someone who liked her and spent time with her, someone who was just there and filled the hole in her heart. That was all. It didn't matter whether that person was a mermaid or a human, in the end there weren't many differences between them anyway. One lived in the sea, the other not; nothing more.

But time passed and such a person never entered her life.

Probably it was naive of her to still wish for someone like that. No other mermaids existed anywhere near where she lived and humans didn't know mermaids existed, so just starting to talk to one of them sounded like a scary idea. Her parents had told Nozomi that there was a good chance they would call her a monster or catch and kill her to gain some profit from her existence and while Nozomi was old enough to make her own judgement and not blindly believe in all of her parents' words, she agreed that it was likely for such a thing to happen.

So she hid and watched.

At some point she started to wonder if she could be okay with this, could be okay with only watching others be happy and be satisfied with it.

She really started to believe that. Whether it was to deceive herself or not, Nozomi didn't know. But she actually started feeling happy just from observing humans from a safe distance. She learned many things from it, how friendships were formed and what kind of activities you could do together. It looked like a lot of fun, though it was not some joy that Nozomi could directly share with any of them.

She was different and so she hadn't big hopes of being accepted by others.

It was then that a girl that often came to the beach alone started to catch Nozomi's attention.

Of course it wasn't that strange for someone not be in a group all the time. Nozomi could imagine that being alone once in a while was good for everyone, but that girl never was there with friends. Surely there might be the chance that her friends just didn't like the sea and that girl was different and loved it, so she came alone, but somehow Nozomi didn't believe that.

The girl never smiled.

She was very obviously not enjoying herself and only took lonely walks at the beach, sometimes just watching the waves with a sad expression on her face and leaving again after some time.

That cycle repeated itself for weeks.

On some days the girl didn't come and Nozomi slowly started to realize that it wasn't just simple curiousity from her side anymore. Every day the girl didn't appeared on the beach, Nozomi felt disappointed. Her curiousity had turned into something more, into a longing that could only be stilled by seeing her.

Wasn't that strange? She didn't know anything about her except that she seemed to feel the same kind of loneliness Nozomi felt and that she made her think about how much more beautiful she would look with a smile in her face. She already was the most beautiful human Nozomi had ever seen, so she could only imagine how much it would take her breath away if she ever smiled or even laughed.

Seeing her wasn't enough anymore. Nozomi wanted to reach out to her, tell her that they were the same despite being so different, that they surely would be able to understand each other and could become good friends. Often she played with the thought to actually do that and talk to her and it was during a late evening when no one else was around anymore that Nozomi gathered all her courage together and stopped hiding behind a rock, swimming into the girl's field of view. She didn't seem to notice her, so Nozomi took a deep breath before greeting her.

"Hello.“

It was simple and she was sure she could have said more, but she decided against it.

The girl looked confused at first, unable to make out where the voice was coming from and it took her a few moments to look at the sea and see her. Her eyes widened in surprise and Nozomi was glad she didn't scream or run away.

"Who are you?“ She asked, her voice sounding as lovely as Nozomi had always imagined it. "You shouldn't be in the water so late. Do you want to get a cold that badly?“

Nozomi laughed. It was their first time meeting and she was already frowning and scolding her? How sweet of her that she cared about a stranger getting sick.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I won't get sick.“ She could tell that the girl was about to argue against it, so she showed her proof that she would be alright. She moved her fish tail above the surface, making sure the girl saw it and realized she was different and not a human. Forgotten were the warnings that humans might harm her for who she was. Nozomi didn't even consider it.

The girl stayed silent for a while, staring at Nozomi as if she just had seen a ghost and that she absolutely couldn't believe her own eyes right now. That reaction was to be expected.

"Y-you are kidding me, right? There is no way this can be real..“ She muttered and Nozomi smiled softly.

"Of course I'm real.“ was her only reply before she swam closer to her, til she could comfortably lie on her stomach, propping both of her arms on the ground and looking up to the girl while letting her tail hang in the air. "I'm Nozomi and you are?“

"E-Eli.“

The girl squatted down so she could better look at her and Nozomi was thankful since her neck would start to hurt if she had to look up to her for too long.

"You... really are a mermaid?“

Nozomi heard her words, but didn't reply, too lost by the realization how pretty Eli's eyes were. Knowing that it was rude to not say anything, she didn't stay silent though.

"Your eyes have a very pretty color, Elicchi, do you know that?“ It was no answer to her question at all and Nozomi giggled when the girl blushed a bit. Although it was dark, she could clearly see the blood rush into her cheeks and it made her wonder if the blush would deepen if she touched her. But that might scare her and hopefully there would be more time for that sometime in the future. "Anyway, yes, I am a mermaid.“

Eli's gaze still said that she couldn't quite believe her eyes, but there was also some acceptance reflected in them.

"A mermaid.. I didn't even know mermaids aren't just a fairy tale..“ She muttered to herself, still staring at Nozomi's tail, before she looked back to her face. "What would a mermaid want from a human like me, if you don't mind me asking that?“

"I want to be your friend, Elicchi.“

There was no need to hide that and come up with a lie. Nozomi wanted to be friends with her, simple as that.

"Friends? But..“ Eli hesitated and Nozomi gladly jumped in so she didn't have to say more.

"I'm the same as you, I believe. I wanted to have a friend for a long, long time, but there was never an opportunity for that.“

For the second time on that day Eli's eyes widened in surprise.

"You don't have any friends?“

Nozomi shook her head.

"Mermaids are rare and I never talked to a human before, so the answer to that is no.“

"...it must have taken a lot of courage to call out to me then.“ Eli stated and she let out a small sigh. „I can't believe I am doing this although I didn't even know mermaids exist til a few minutes ago, but..“

It was Nozomi's turn to be surprised, when Eli stopped talking and slowly smiled.

For weeks Nozomi had wondered what it would look like to see that expression on the girl's face and it looked prettier than she could have ever imagined that. She felt the urge to see her smile more often, so she could treasure this sight many, many times more.

"I'd love to be friends with you, Nozomi.“

The mermaid had never felt such a pleasant warmth in her chest before. She was almost afraid that she wouldn't know how to survive it if she were to experience more often, yet at the same time it felt so nice that she never wanted to miss this feeling again.

"Anyway,“ Eli started speaking again and stood up. "I have to go home now, but.. I will definitely come again tomorrow.“

Nozomi nodded.

"Of course you have to come again. We are friends after all, Elicchi.“

"Yes, we are.“ Eli said and turned to leave.

Nozomi couldn't help but feel a bit glad that she had to go. One moment more and she wouldn't have known what to do except for smiling like an idiot. She still needed to get used to the thought of really having a friend, that the girl she had admired from a safe distance had agreed to give her a chance.

Eli was her first friend and Nozomi was certain she would never regret that.

**Author's Note:**

> i didn't post anything on here in forever lOL i mean
> 
> this is partially inspired by [this fanart](http://lilaccu.tumblr.com/post/91895434386/blue-sketch-today-idea-from-their-new-ur-cards) (pls check out her other art, it's all really gorgeous!!) and by my own tears over never getting the wonderful UR mermaid Nozomi in the JP version of llsif hahasdghf. 
> 
> maybe this will have a continuation one day. i can't believe how real nozoeli is. hope you enjoyed reading this!
> 
> (oh and i write Eli's name with a 'l' and not 'r' because i'm used to see her name written like that from llsif, i hope it doesn't bother anyone too much)


End file.
